My 7week Kitten Has Redness Around Her Eyes

[Angel10]

Hi, i just got a 7week old kitten as she had already weaned off from the mum, the breeder decided to let go of her, and we were happy to get her home. She is full of energy and bounces around, sleeps lots and plays lots.

Her eyes and nose were absolutely fine when we selected her at 5weeks, but when we collected her on monday, the breeder said she just has some food stuck on her eyes n nose and you can go home and clean it up.
The next day, we called the groomer who gave her a quick shower and she was super clean and fresh.
The next morning, she had red scabs near her eyes n nose again. Can someone please advise.
We are waiting another 3 days before we take her to the vet, as she completes 8weeks and the vet said he will vaccinate and deworm and check her alltogether on the same day.
Im attaching a pic after her shower and also the next day.
Please advise as im a little worried for her.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Welcome!!
Can you send that picture to your vet and ask if she needs to be brought in to him sooner?

 

[di and bob]

seh most likely has a 'kitty cold' or feline herpes. Not transferable to humans. I can see her third eyelid in the corner of her eyes, so she definitely doesn't feel well. wipe her eyes and nose with a warm, wet washcloth to keep the discharge down. I would bring her in now, she shouldn't be vaccinated if she is sick. The vet may give you something with that picture if you ask. L-lysine is usually given but for that young of a kitten it should be under a vet's advise. i give mine in the form of treats I get on Amazon. this is VERY common in kittens, and is a virus so not much can be done. If the discharge turns thick and cloudy then it has turned bacterial and an antibiotic will be given. He might give eye ointment. you pull the lower eyelid down to form a 'pouch' and squeeze a line of ointment down into the pouch. Kittens quickly get used to it. if they really refuse at first, just wiping some across the closed eye would help, trying to get some into the eye. All the luck!

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

... I would bring her in now, she shouldn't be vaccinated if she is sick. ...

I agree!


She is beautiful - have you named her yet?

 

[Angel10]

Thank you , her third eye lid does appear sometime only, when she is super sleepy .

I hv a pic after her bath, she was totally clear...

 

[StefanZ]

I agree with that earlier said - even if she isnt so bad, but not good either.

 

[Angel10]

Is it curable ? Please tell... Im really worried. Today is sunday and vet wont see her. So ill take her tomorrow morning!

 

[war&wisdom]

Is it curable ? Please tell... Im really worried. Today is sunday and vet wont see her. So ill take her tomorrow morning!

We really can't say for sure one way or the other, since we're not vets, but if she's healthy otherwise, then I don't think you should worry too much! She is so so cute, by the way.

 

[FelisCatus]

She is so beautiful, looks like a fluffy cloud .

Please keep us updated when you can, I hope everything turns out well...

 

[war&wisdom]

I also want to add that the breeder seems to have been dishonest with you, because this was clearly an issue before you took her home, and that he/she should be contacted and possibly reported.

 

[ameezers]

I find it super disturbing that even if it was food on the kittens face, that a breeder would think it's okay to send a kitten home like that and tell the adopter to clean it...

I have never had a kitten (even when they were first starting to eat solids) get food around their eyes... maybe a litte on their nose or face but they would promptly clean it off themselves.

7 weeks is far to young for a kitten to be taken away from mom. Most of my kittens at 12-13 weeks still have the odd nurse from mom, so to say a 7 week old kitten is fully weaned doesn't seem right to me.

She is a cutie and I hope that she feels better soon!

Did the other kittens seem sick or have messy faces too?

 

[Angel10]

There was only one other kitten in the litter. Much smaller. Apparently persians have small litters?!?

So we went to the vet and he said the kitten is healthy but has mites in the ears. He said the red scabs around the eyes n nose are due to tear ducts, and that persian cats have a general problem with their tears not draining properly, so when they come out n stay there, they crust up. As she is so tiny, he suggested we use a soft wet cloth daily to wipe her face in the morning. He dismissed my question of cat herpes, and said no its not that.

He de-wormed her , gave some antibiotic drops for the ear mites and asked us to come back after 2 weeks for the shots.

Im not too sure, and might go next week (after the anti biotics course is complete) to another vet for an opinion. But im a little relieved as he was very happy to see her n said shes cute n healthy...she was jumping around.

Thank u so so so much everyone for helping me out here. We havent named her yet, cos shes too tiny n doesnt respond to anything... Just hops, plays, eats, sleeps n poops. I adore her completely.

 

[ameezers]

posiepurrs might be a good person to weigh in if this is an issue common to the breed

 

[posiepurrs]

Some Persians do have discharge from the eyes, while others don’t. Just wipe the eyes gently with a warm damp cloth when needed. If the discharge turns greenish then you probably need antibiotics. Since you already have her this doesn’t really matter, BUT a 7 week old kitten (especially a Persian - they mature slowly) is far to young to be taken from Mom. My kittens go between 12 and 16 weeks. During those extra weeks with Mom they learn the social graces. Younger kittens can sometimes develop behavioral problems when taken away to young, aside from needing to nurse, even just occasionally. A good breeder would never send a kitten home that young or in that condition. Yes, kittens sometimes do develop a cold when going to a new home caused by stress and new germs. That is why it is advisable to quarantine a new kitten. This is doubly important if you have other pets in the house for a few weeks. It gives their immature immune systems a chance to adjust.

 

[Richard2121]

I want to spread some awareness about cat illness that I think is VERY important. Vets and cat owners alike seem to self diagnose "cat herpes" every time a cat has eye discharge or upper respiratory infection symptoms. It is extremely sad that this is the case. There are about 6 other common illnesses which are far more treatable and manageable which can be diagnosed when the proper labs are done. This prevents the spread of infection, and the continuation of symptoms over a more "chronic" period of time. I don't know how many vets I went to before my poor Richard finally met a local vet with a passion for running proper diagnostics and treating the actual disease instead of grasping at straws. We did a respiratory PCR panel which gets sent to an outside lab. The cost is about $200. I would highly recommend this test because otherwise you may end up spending more than that on vet exams and other diagnostics just trying to manage the symptoms rather than treat the actual disease. I know that is a lot of money up front but I ended up spending well over $700 on vet visits and various in-vet tests which gathered no definitive results THEN I did the PCR panel which was an additional $200. $900 later and then I STILL had to purchase the antibiotics ($75) used to treat the bacterial infection Richard had. There was only one antibiotic that would be effective and only one method of treatment that would work. So it would have been nearly impossible to guess our way out of this situation. Oh and my situation was actually considered "lucky" because he could have gotten pneumonia or a severe lung infection from this and he had it for 3 months.

 

[Angel10]

Hey Richard surely is lucky! My previous cat passed away due to a lung infection at 8years of age and im sure it was not diagnosed properly, and the doctors gave her injections, antibiotics and the lot. Lots of hugs to Richard

 

[Richard2121]

Yes so you have experienced first hand how "guessing" can really affect a cat's health care and outlook. I am sorry to hear that you had to go through something like that. The process is exhausting and then on top of all the stress you immediately go into a period of grief. We lost a 7 month old kitten, Charlie, to "something" but never really got a diagnosis. They were pretty sure it was nothing infectious and that it was a growth defect. But again, hundreds if not thousands of dollars later we had no answers and a still sick kitten

I wish more vets recognized the value and peace of mind the PCR panels can offer. They are expensive, but they have a low margin of error and are ultra sensitive. Pretty much any speck of infection can be detected and diagnosed.